The Wanting Comes In Waves

All Sam/Dean, All The Time

In His Court - Part 1 of 4

The first thing he notices when he awakens is the familiar smell of the Impala, god he’s missed this so much, can smell Dean in here even if he’s gone. Sam sits up abruptly hitting his head on the roof. It all comes back to him in an awful flood, Dean’s gone, he doesn’t know where. Not yet. Before he can get too worked up about Dean’s absence, Sam hears a familiar fluttery whoosh of wings and hears a deep gravelly voice from the front seat, “Dean’s in Purgatory, thought you should know.&rdquo

Cas looks like he’s about to take off immediately, but Sam touches his arm a second before he’s pulls his disappearing act. “Cas, what? Purgatory? Is Dean okay? Can you help me get him back? How are you even here?”

Cas looks at Sam with that familiar not-quite understanding expression, the hard one filled with pity for this poor mortal before him, and then his face changes to what Sam thinks of as the new-Cas face, the one that is soft and open, but not quite all there, “Yes, Purgatory, the weapon he used on Dick Roman brought us both there. He is alive. No Sam, I can’t be involved in this, the violence is…not for me anymore. I can make you a sandwich. And I believe that once again my father has brought me back whether I like it or not, my punishment continues.”

Sam wants to scream at Cas, he sure as hell does not want another sandwich right now, all he wants is Dean, and even new-Cas should know that, but he controls himself and says in the friendliest voice he can manage, “That’s okay Cas, I don’t need a sandwich right now. Tell me about Purgatory, is there a way to get him out?” Sam wishes all of a sudden that Meg was there, she’d be able to talk to Cas, maybe talk him into helping even. But she’s not there, because he’s guessing Crowley still has her along with Kevin the Prophet. And yeah, he shouldn’t be wanting to hang around with another demon chick when Dean’s off in another dimension, but sometimes they can be helpful. Sam’s going to do whatever is required to get Dean back, and everyone involved knows that by now.

“Yes there is, but you cannot accomplish it yourself. How about some honey Sam, I’ll just go and bring you back some honey.” Cas almost sounds like he’s pleading with Sam, not wanting to get involved, but still wanting to help somehow.

“Sure Cas that would be great, but first can you please tell me who might be able to help since you can’t? It’s for Dean’s sake, I know you still care about what happens to him.” Sam outright pleads.

“I can think of no one you’d want to call on, it requires the three bloods and a righteous soul’s bone again but I do not know the words that must be said, they are different to bring someone back. Here is my contribution.” Cas hands him a vial of what Sam assumes is Cas’ blood.

“Thanks Cas, for uh, your blood again. So I have to make the same weapon we used on Dick Roman, and figure out what words to say and that will bring Dean back?”

“Yes, it will bring back whoever last used the weapon to open up Purgatory. As long as no one else has opened Purgatory since he killed Dick Roman, Dean will be the one to return. I will go now and get the honey for you Sam.” Cas disappears. Sam falls back onto the seat in frustration, narrowly missing hitting his head on the door handle. At least he knows where Dean is now, and most of how to get him back, which is a lot more than he knew when he woke up. He wishes he’d mentioned Meg to Cas before he left.

Sam tries summoning Meg, and he waits there in Rufus’ cabin for days, stuck in the middle of next-door to nowhere Whitefish, Montana, bored out of his mind, worried so much about Dean he can barely eat, but she doesn’t come, until several days later, Crowley does instead, surprising Sam in the middle of finishing the last of the whisky Dean had left behind.

“I’ve gotta get him out.” Sam says plainly, trying to get across there’s nothing else more important to him. Sam doesn’t want to beg, but he knows he’s probably got to, not having much to offer Crowley in return.

“Well, that’s going to cost you precious, and I know you’ve got something else to do before you’ll be needing it. So I’ll do this instead, you need to find our fine fanged friend again, right? Well, he’s not where you’d look first, he’s moved to his summer house in Seattle. Here’s the address.” Crowley proffers a yellow post-it note with some scrawled fountain pen writing.

Sam accepts the piece of paper, trying to contain his surprise at Crowley’s unanticipated helpfulness, “Thanks, but uh, why are you helping me?”

“Let’s just say, it will all be clearer in the near future shall we? I’ve got to get back to Meg and Kevin now, ta!” Crowley is gone without a sound.

Sam’s left standing next to the table, holding the supposed address of the Alpha Vamp, wondering why in hell Crowley would help him like this, and whether Cas would want to do anything about Crowley having Meg and Kevin. He sighs; knowing there isn’t anyone to ask for answers and begins packing up to get on the road to Seattle. As Sam drives, he starts thinking about how he’s wrong, that there are other people, maybe not the usual ones they would have asked for help in the past, they’re all dead and gone now. But there’s Jody Mills, and maybe Charlie if he can find her again, even Garth might be of some help. He calls and leaves messages for Jody and Garth, and resolves to try and track down Charlie when he gets into a motel that night, driving on as fast as he can

Listening to Dean’s tapes just makes him too sad, so he sticks with the radio, listening to news stations that are all abuzz with the downfall of Sucrocorp and an apparent food poisoning scandal they’re involved in. Sam just laughs and hopes that Charlie’s involved with that somehow. He’s got at least a nine hour drive if he goes straight through to Seattle, but ends up stopping in Snoqualmie before the pass. This place has so many memories, he’s stopped here many times with Dean on their treks back and forth across the country, but he suddenly remembers why this place, this motel he’s pulling into as if by habit is so familiar.

This is it, this little looks like nothing motel is where they gave in, all those years ago, a few months after their dad had died, in this very place, The Rode-a-way Inn. He can just remember hearing Dean teasing, “Rode hard and put away wet, right Sammy?” Sam checks in and asks for the room, their room, #14, on the first floor, on the far end away from the office, even though it’s a double. As he goes to sleep that night he tries to recall how that whole night even happened, it was all so long ago.

They’d been coming back from what was supposed to have been an easy salt and burn of two spirits trapped in one of the mountain lodges, something about a fight over winnings in the casino, but they’d both gotten injured, Sam the worst, getting choked (again) with the over-sized napkins from the dining room. He’d been in the bathroom, examining the purpling chain of bruises on his neck in the dim light when Dean had come in to pee. But their eyes had met in the mirror and something had shifted, changed when Dean had spotted the bruises. He’d come forward brushing up against Sam’s back as he’d leaned in to softly touch the ones on the side of Sam’s neck. Sam had shivered uncontrollably at Dean’s touch. Their eyes had locked irretrievably in the mirror and they both watched as Dean came in the last few inches to kiss the bruises even more softly. And just like that, Sam had been lost. And found.

After all those years of denial, and self-hating doubt, he’d swayed backwards into Dean who caught him steadying around his waist, gripping him sure and firm even though they both felt as if they were getting pulled out to the deep ocean with an invisible power of a rip-tide. There hadn’t been much more they could do except fall into each other, no hope of covering this back up and trying to pretend it wasn’t there. And it had been such a relief how little it had changed things. Both of them had been convinced that it would be the end of them, but instead it was something they both soon realized wasn’t anything they could have ever stopped forever

Sam sleeps well that night for the first time since Dean’s been gone, dreaming deeply of making that final promise with their bodies even if it hadn’t ever been spoken.

His phone ringing is what wakes him up the next morning; it’s Garth who last he’d heard was back on the East Coast in D.C., apparently unaware of the three hour time difference with where Sam is blearily holding the phone.

“Sam, hey, it’s good to hear from you man. How’re things?”

“Uh, hey Garth, thanks for calling me back. I’m, well, honestly, I’m not too good. Gotta ask if there’s any way you could come out to Washington to meet me.”

“You’re in luck, I just finished my case the other day and I’m in Chicago now, so I’ll be there by the end of today if I can catch a good flight. You in Seattle or somewhere else?”

“Yeah, Seattle. Don’t you want to hear why?”

“Naw, I know it’ll be a long story, you guys can tell me when I get there.”

Sam takes a deep breath, knowing he has to actually say the words for the first time, out loud to someone else, “It’s just me now, Dean’s gone.” The breath whooshes out of him, he hates even having to utter those words, it makes it all so much more real and he doesn’t want to think about it that way, not yet. Not when there is still something else he can try.

“Well okay then, you can fill me in tonight, I’ll call later with my flight info, so you can get me at the airport.”

“Thanks Garth. I mean it really. Thanks.”

“You bet Sam, see you later dude.”

Sam smiles to himself as he hangs up, looking forward to seeing Garth, just having a friendly face who knows him, who knows a little bit about what Dean means to him will be such a relief. He doesn’t know how much help Garth will actually be, but he doesn’t realistically have any other options. After a quick breakfast of power bars and bad motel coffee Sam gets online. At least the Wi-Fi is pretty good here and with his fingers crossed he gets in deep into some of the message boards that Charlie had mentioned she frequented. He creates an account and posts a request that he hopes gets her attention and is cryptic enough to throw off any remaining internet monitoring Leviathans:

Hermione, I know we said goodbye and promised we’d never contact you again. But you gotta help me save Ron again. Bring your Princess Leia tattoo with you to Seattle and call me. There’ll be as much ScarJo as you can handle afterwards. ASAP Thanks, Harry

With that done, all he can do is drive the rest of the way to Seattle, it doesn’t take too long until he’s cruising the neighborhood that has the home that Crowley’s pointed him to. Trying to drive inconspicuously in this area with its exclusive homes tucked way back up curving driveways with security cameras everywhere is hard, he’s lost his touch, and usually Dean’s the one who’s driving. Finally he sees the house, surrounded by trees with a big open lawn up to it from the road. He doesn’t stop, but slows down a little to get a bead on how many doors and windows he can spot. Only two cameras that he can see at the bottom of the driveway, so coming in from the side will make more sense

Sam’s got a few hours to kill until it’s time to head out to pick up Garth at SeaTac so he drives through downtown Seattle slowly, parking near the touristy Pike Place market. He remembers that there’s a good place that has clam chowder and he needs to eat something soon. He gets the chowder to go and sits down at a park that overlooks the edge of the water, listening to the kids playing and the drum circle just starting up, trying not to enjoy the sunshine too much. It doesn’t seem right to enjoy himself even a little bit when his brother is gone, far away in a place that he can only imagine is maybe not as bad as Hell, but who really knows, the Leviathans were there after all

But he can’t think about that, it’s not helpful to dwell on imagining what’s happening to Dean, he’s got Cas’ word (for whatever that’s worth these days who knows) that Dean’s okay. Instinctively, without really meaning to, he prays for Cas to come, just wanting some reassurance that Dean’s still really alive. And he drops his remaining chowder to the pavement when Cas appears on the bench across the picnic table from him with the familiar whoosh of wings departing. “Sam, you are well I see.”

“Yeah, uh hi Cas, didn’t think you’d really come.” Because he didn’t usually, not before he was God, and not really after either, not unless Dean was the one calling, Sam tries to be grateful that Cas responded to him for once.

“I am here, because Dean is in trouble and you need to hurry.” Cas says in his usual solemn tone.

“He is? I’m trying Cas, but I don’t know how long it will take. Is there anything more you can do to help me?” Sam asks, hoping against hope that he’ll get an actual answer for once.

“I know you do not require any more honey, but I will do what I can, as long as there is no violence.” Cas answers in what sounds like a binding promise.

Promises of a crazy angel are worth something Sam thinks, and then decides to ask the question he’s been wondering for a while now, “Cas, do you know that Crowley has Meg? And Kevin the Prophet?”

Cas tilts his head to the side a little, indicating that he’s taking on new information, “I did not, that explains why she did not come when I called her. I was distracted with counting the types of beetles in an Amazon rainforest preserve, it takes longer than you’d imagine to keep them all separate long enough to count them accurately, they’re so busy, and have so many jobs.”

“I’m sure that’s hard to do. Uh, Cas, he has Kevin, remember Kevin the Prophet, I thought he was important to the angels.” Sam continues on the line of questioning as gently as he can manage, knowing that it doesn’t take much to set Cas off these days.

Speaking as if he’s repeating something he’s memorized, Cas answers, “Yes, Kevin the Prophet needs to be rescued, he should not be under Crowley’s control. And Meg is…”

“Meg is what Cas?” Sam knows this is not strictly necessary that he knows what Meg is to Cas, but he’s curious and it may impact the whole mission.

Cas doesn’t say anything for a while, eyes darting all around the park, finally settling on some white poppies moving in the breeze, “Meg is…. necessary to me now. I will retrieve them both.”

“Cas! Wait!” Sam yells in frustration, jumping up from the picnic table and knocking the soup container off the edge, the remains splattering near his shoes.

But Cas is gone, as quickly as he’d arrived. Sam’s left there alone again, with his spilled soup and more questions than he had before. He feels the buzzing in his pocket that’s another call coming in.

“Hey Sam, how are you?”

It’s Jody, and the relief in hearing her calm, warm voice is almost overwhelming, Sam has to steady himself, “Oh hi Sherriff Mills, thanks so much for calling me back.”

“Sam I thought we’d settled this, you call me Jody, you hear?” Jody insists with a stern humor that makes Sam smile and relax his shoulders.

“Yeah, okay, sorry Jody. I called to…well I called to ask you for some help.”

“Well it must be something major, I know you Winchesters are as bad as Bobby Singer was at asking for help. What is it Sam?”

“Dean’s gone Jody, he’s gone.” Sam answers, his voice breaking and going quiet on the second ‘gone’. It’s harder the second time, because Jody’s been there with him before when Dean has disappeared and needed retrieving. She’s seen Sam fall apart, held him together with quiet support, glasses of whisky, and a motherly humor that had surprised him with how necessary it became to surviving Dean’s absence

“Where Sam? Where’s Dean?” Jody asks, dread in her voice, because she knows Dean isn’t just off on a bender somewhere when Sam is sounding worse than the time when Dean had been lost in the past.

“Purgatory. We figured out how to kill the head Leviathan, but it took Dean with him. Jody I have to get him back, I need to get my brother back.” Sam stops himself, just barely from crying into the phone, wishing Jody was there, embarrassed as hell to be breaking down over the phone to this woman who he knows cares, but really has no reason to.

Jody swallows past the lump in her throat, hearing the raw emotion in Sam’s voice, “Sam, it’s gonna be okay, we’ll figure this out, we’ll get him back. What can I do?”

“I’m in Seattle right now.” Sam sits down on the bench, slumping down, head in his hands, feeling so alone, even though he’s talking to her right now.

“I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

“Really, just like that?” Sam straightens up immediately, instantly cheered just at the thought of Jody travelling to be there and help him.

“Yeah Sam, remember what we did when I last saw you?”

Sam holds the phone closely, as if he’s hugging the memory of that brilliant rescue they’d pulled off, his brother returning in a flash of red light, whole and safe, “Brought Dean back to the right time?”

“Uh huh, I bet since I helped with that, I can do something that will help with this, so I’m there a.s.a.p. It’s why you called me, right? Do you need anything that you didn’t keep from Bobby’s stuff?”

“No, we already had all the Purgatory related things since we were working on getting the Leviathans back in there. Jody I can’t thank you enough.”

“Thank me when we get Dean back, ‘kay? See you soon Sam, I’ll call when I know when I’m coming in.”

“’kay, see you Jody.” Sam hangs up and looks up at the cloudless blue sky, suddenly overwhelmed by the concept that he’s still got friends. It’s been hard the last few years, with all that’s happened, and how many friends he’s had die, but how about that? There still really are some folks he can call on when he needs them most. Sam thinks about explaining all of this to Dean when he’s back, how improbable it will seem to him that Garth and Jody were willing to drop everything at a moment’s notice to fly out and help him

Dean’s always been so focused on the job, and keeping moving, and remaining unencumbered by obligations, and he sure as hell has never figured out how much he affects people. How when people get to know his brother, they’ll follow him anywhere, and do just about anything to help him. Dean’s one of those natural leaders, but it’s not something he’s ever thought about himself as being a good skill to have

Sam smiles thinking about his brother’s self-esteem issue, and maybe seeing that their friends worked together to save him might give him a little boost in that respect. It certainly can’t hurt, unless one of them ends up dead, but if Sam’s got anything to say about it, that’s not happening. It might be selfish of him to even risk one of their friends getting hurt. No, it is selfish, he knows that, but it’s Dean, and both Jody and Garth know him well enough that they’d understand

He thinks to check in on the message board he’d posted on earlier that morning, to see if Charlie’s responded and sees that there are several replies, most of which are confused people trying to figure out his purposefully cryptic message, but one that says:

Harry, I’m with Dumbledore right now, we’ll contact you by owl as soon as we find one not compromised by Voldemort.

Sam smiles widely as he figures out what the crazy reply implies. But wait does Dumbledore mean Frank? They never did figure out if he was really killed, they’d just assumed that he was a goner with all that blood covering his trailer. If Charlie is with Frank, could they be doing something about the left-behind leaderless Leviathans? Sam feels momentarily guilty for not following up on that particular issue, but it’s not like he would have been able to do much. If he’s honest, Dean’s all that really matters to him anyways. Almost as soon as he finishes that thought, his phone is ringing once again.

“That you Harry?”

“Yeah, hi Hermione, thanks for calling.”

“Sam, I’m here with Frank, and we’re almost done with stopping the last of Dick’s plan.”

“Good, that’s good Charlie, thank you.”

“So you took out Dick I saw. Pretty awesome.”

“How did you--?”

“On the security video feed. Did, uh Dean really disappear too?”

“Yeah, he’s gone Charlie. Stuck in Purgatory. I’m trying to get him out, that’s what I was actually calling you about. I need help.”

“Anything Sam, you got it.”

“Can you and Frank get me a map or something that shows where the Leviathan creamer stuff had actually been released? Like where there would be some humans affected?”

“Yeah, we’ve got something like that we’ve been working on. I’ll email it to you.”

“How long are the effects going to be hanging around do you think? I need more information about how long it stays in our bloodstream to trade for something to help Dean.”

“Ok that’s just weird Sam. From what we can tell there is a half life of about two weeks after initial production, then it’s no longer viable. The stuff is killer effective, once someone has ingested it, they are completely out of it for at least a few months. And it’s still in the bloodstream for about six months after they’re back to normal. This is all according to the records from Sucrocorp that we’ve been reading. There isn’t much more I can tell you than that. Is that enough info to help Dean?”

“You bet Sam, let us know when you’ve got Dean back and if we can do anything else for you.”

“I will, thanks.”

“Bye Sam, good luck.”

Sam picks Garth and Jody up at Sea-Tac, he greets them both with hugs bordering on desperate and tries to pull himself together. Jody and Garth chat over the seat back of the Impala, trying to figure out how they each know Sam and Dean. While listening to them, Sam swings by a drive-thru to pick up some burgers on the way back to his motel. They settle in to eat and talk about what help Sam needs from them. Garth and Sam hunched over their burgers at the table, Jody sitting on the bed

“This is probably going to be dangerous, you both know that right?” Sam asks them seriously.

Jody and Garth both nod at Sam.

“So, here’s the deal, when we took out the head Leviathan, the spell we used pulled Dean and our friend Cas into Purgatory along with Dick Roman. There’s not too much else I know beyond that. Cas was able to get out and he told me that Dean is alive, but needs me to get him out as soon as possible.”

“How did this Cas get out?” Jody asks.

“Uh, well he’s an angel. And it’s a long story, but he keeps dying and being brought back to life. He thinks God is trying to get him to learn a lesson.”

“An angel?” Garth asks, surprised.

“Yeah, I know, it sounds crazy, but it’s true. I didn’t believe it until I met him myself.”

“This Cas trustworthy?” asks Jody a little suspiciously.

“Well, that’s a long story too, but on the subject of Dean, yeah, I’d trust him.” Sam answers.

“So how do we get Dean out?” Jody asks.

“We have to make the same device we used to send Dick Roman back to Purgatory. It’s basically a bone and three different types of blood. I’ve got the bone and one of the bloods. It’s getting one of the other bloods I need your help with.”

“I’m type A positive, will that help?” Garth asks.

“Thanks, but no, we need the blood of an Alpha, they’re the first of their kind of monster. I’ve found out where the Alpha vampire is and that’s where we’re going first.”

“A vampire? Like undead, with the teeth and everything?” asks Jody.

“Yeah, exactly like that. I’m bringing him some information he wants, so it shouldn’t be too dangerous, I just needed some backup, that’s where you two come in.”

“I haven’t come up against a vamp before Sam, can they be killed?” asks Garth.

“Yeah, guess I’d better fill you both in just in case, vampires can be killed by decapitation, a stake to the heart or being burned. They’re stronger and faster than humans, and can go in the sun, they just don’t like it, weakens ‘em.”

“I feel like I’m in an episode of Buffy all of a sudden. Count me in on the Scooby gang.” Jody quips.

Sam smiles in relief that she’s on board

“You got enough machetes for us Sam?” Garth asks, showing that he knows how to gank a vamp as well as any other hunter.

“Yeah, got it all in the car. We’ll go when it’s full dark, I already scoped it out. Two security cameras in the front near the driveway, so if we approach from the side we should be okay.”

“Sam I’m really glad that you called us for help.” Jody offers with a sympathetic smile.

“Yeah buddy, I just hope it helps.” Garth agrees.

“Thanks guys, I didn’t know if you’d come, but I’m damn glad I don’t have to do this all by myself.”

Later that night they drive back out to the wide tree-lined streets of the neighborhood where the alpha vamp lives. Sam points out the house as they cruise by once, parking a block over. Sam hands them each a machete with a grateful smile. “Let’s go.&rdquo

They get pretty close to the house before one of the alpha vamp’s guards confronts them. “What are you doing here?”

“We need to see him.” Sam answers, trying to sound more confident than he really is.

“He doesn’t see visitors here, and not ones such as you. Go away. Now.” The vamp bares his teeth menacingly.

“No, I’m afraid we can’t do that.” Sam answers, pulling out his machete.

The vamp leans in to attack but Garth knocks him over suddenly and Sam is able to whack his head off with one big blow. He wipes the blood off his blade on the vamp’s shirt. “We’re almost there, stick close.” Sam looks over and sees Jody’s wide eyes staring at the now clean blade gleaming in the moonlight. He winks at her, hoping he’s mimicking Dean’s bravado that always seems to help ‘normals’ get used to the whole monster-fighting thing. And it works; she winks back and smiles bravely.

As they approach what looks like the kitchen door, another vamp appears back lit by the lights in the house. “You aren’t supposed to be here.” He tells Sam.

This time it’s Jody that knocks the vamp over as he rushes towards Sam. Turning quickly to the side Sam chops through the neck, the head of the vamp rolling down the steps into the garden, the body falling limply in the doorway. “We’re in, c’mon” Sam says, quickly stepping over the body and into the house.

They walk through the house quietly, wary of more henchmen appearing at any second, but they get through with no more contact until they find the Alpha Vamp seated at an ornate carved wooden desk at the end of a large over-decorated sitting room. Dim lights are scattered around the room, casting shadows that are disconcerting. Sam enters the room first with Jody and Garth right behind him.

“Winchester, you are actually here in my presence once again?” The alpha asks, sounding rather amused.

“Yes, uh, hi. I know you said you didn’t want to see me again, but I have something you need.” Sam stammers out.

“And I’d wager I have something you need, again.” The alpha says, a silky threat in his low voice.

“Yes, I need your blood again, to rescue my brother from Purgatory.”

“He is more than just your brother isn’t he Samuel? Answer me honestly.” The alpha purrs.

Sam feels compelled to answer even though Garth and Jody will hear this truth, “Yes, he is everything to me. My love, my life. He doesn’t belong there, he needs to be with me. We were told in Heaven that we are soul-mates.”

“I appreciate your honesty. Tell me what it is you have that you think I want.” The alpha nods regally at Sam.

“I have a complete database of all the locations where Sucrocorp distributed the tainted creamer and information on how long it lasts in humans.”

The alpha sits back in his chair and steeples his hands in front of him, “I thought Sucrocorp was shut down in their plans when you dispatched Roman. You mean this is still an issue for my children?”

“Yes, it will definitely harm them, and I know you were concerned about that before, the last time you uh, gave us your blood.”

“Well, this is news, and I’m glad you’ve had the initiative to bring it to me Samuel.”

“Does that mean you’ll give me what I need?”

“Yes, as long as you swear we’ll not meet again, and kill no more of my people in this house.” The alpha fixes him with a stare that scares the wits out of Sam.

The alpha brings his wineglass to the front of him on the desk, rolls up his sleeve, and runs his long fingernail over his wrist slicing it open, the deep rich red blood pours out into the glass until it is half full. He offers it to Sam with a large menacing smile that shows the first several rows of his teeth, “You’ll see yourselves out?”

Sam places the usb drive on the desk, “Yeah, uh, thanks.” He turns to go, grabbing Garth’s arm to wake him out of a light trance, Jody’s already ahead of them, out the kitchen door. Then walk silently and quickly back to the car, put the machetes back in the trunk and Sam pours the blood from the glass into a vial he had waiting in the trunk. He wraps it up in one of Dean’s shirts and tucks it safely in Dean’s duffel with the vial of Cas’ blood. He reluctantly gets back in the car, thrilled that they succeeded and no one was injured, but dreading their questions.

Before Sam can even start the car, he’s startled by Garth demanding, “Sam, how could you?”

“How could I what Garth?” Sam asks, incredulous that Garth’s challenging him at this point.

“Sam, I’m glad we got the blood like you needed, but you just promised that Alpha to not ever try and kill him. How can you even do that?” Garth asks, anger barely held back.

“I had to. It’s for Dean.” Sam answers quietly, helplessly. That’s the only answer he has.

“We know Sam, we heard what you said in there.” Jody says, an unasked question in her voice.

“It’s true, what I said, and I know it probably doesn’t make you think much of me and Dean, but you’d never understand, and it’s just the way it is for us, always has been.” Sam states defiantly, defending himself against their unstated objections.

“Listen Sam, I don’t care about all that. Being a hunter is hard enough, I know that and I haven’t been doing it all that long. And having someone like Dean to do it with, well that would mean everything to me. I understand as much as I need to man, don’t worry about it okay?” Garth says, trying to show Sam that he’s accepting of this strange news.

“Sam, I already figured this out after working with you to get Dean back to our time. And Bobby had told me a little anyways. Like you said, it is what it is. I honestly don’t have a problem with it, it’s your business, but anyone can see how much you mean to each other. I’d have done this for my husband or my child if I’d had the chance.” Jody adds, hoping Sam hears her tolerant words.

Sam sits there in the driver’s seat; head bowed looking at the spatters of vampire blood on his hands. He sighs heavily, “Thanks you guys, I know it’s a lot to take in at once, and I just, well I’m just glad you’re open-minded enough to still be in the car with me. Not many people would.”

They get back to the motel, Garth bunks with Sam and Jody gets her own room. Before splitting up Sam tells them both, “We’ve got more left to do, but I’m too tired to explain it all. Tomorrow okay?”

Jody pats his arm and smiles, “Me too, I’m beat. See you in the morning. We meeting at the diner over there?”

“Sounds good, thanks Jody. Good night.” Sam says, patting her on the shoulder, and turning to go next door to his and Garth’s room.

Jody putters around her room for a while, and starts thinking about Sam and Dean while she brushes her teeth. Those boys found each other across time itself! she marvels once again to herself. There’s something about being around people so deeply committed to one another, it makes her miss her husband, and even Bobby. She finds herself wishing that she had someone to worry about like Sam has, she feels so disconnected in comparison.

As Jody is falling asleep she pictures Bobby and the boys, hunting together like he’d once told her about, tramping through the woods looking for something to shoot at that isn’t a monster for once. Dean and Sam bumping into each other, both of them cracking jokes and making Bobby grump at them, and she wishes she’d been there to see it herself. That little family she had inserted herself into at such a horrible time in her life was one of the strongest she’d ever seen. Each of them devoted to each other so utterly, and she knows she’s only heard a quarter of what they’d sacrificed over the years. What was it Bobby had said? Family don’t end with blood. She guesses she knows what that really means now.

Sam and Garth get ready for bed and Sam is struck with how utterly strange this is to be in a motel room with Garth doing this routine instead of Dean. The noises are all wrong; the order of things happening is all mixed up. He can barely stand it and manages to get into bed as quickly as possible with muttered thanks as they pass in the bathroom door. Sam falls asleep very quickly, exhausted from the worry and fight and discussion with his friends, dreaming of riding in the Impala, Dean driving and singing along to Rush, drumming on the steering wheel, sun shining brightly behind his head, smiling that heart-breaking smile that makes him lose all sense of reality.

Garth just shrugs at Sam’s muttering, and doesn’t take it personally. Sam’s obviously got a lot on his mind, probably a lot more that he can’t even imagine. He muses about what it would be like to have someone in his life like Dean and Sam have to help deal with it all. He realizes he’s a little jealous at the thought of that closeness and support always being there for them and wishes he had something even close to it.

As Garth is drifting off to sleep he remembers Bobby telling him about Sam and Dean when they were little kids, Dean rescuing Sam from the river near the back of the junkyard, finding both of them entwined in the mud, panting and spitting out muddy river water. But grinning at each other as if there wasn’t anything else they’d rather be doing. Bobby had said that he’d never seen two kids that in-sync before, that he could see they were going to be a phenomenal hunting team, “That is if those idjits can stay alive long enough at the same time.” He misses his old mentor with a sudden wave of fierce loss; Bobby was one of a kind.

Before Sam can make out the door of the motel room to join Jody and Garth in the diner, Cas suddenly appears with the usual fluttering small wind.

“I have located Crowley, he does have Meg as well as The Prophet, thankfully they are not being kept in Hell.”

“That’s great Cas, did you get them out yet?”

“I am unable to without resorting to violence. Sam, I know I have wronged you in the past. But will you help me?”

“Cas, I told you, we’re good. You fixed me, I understood why you did it all. And yes of course I’ll help. Just tell me where to go.”

“Crowley has them in the basement of this large house, here is the address, if you are there at noon tomorrow, there will be the least amount of demons for you to deal with.” Cas hands him an old crumpled envelope, sticky with honey, an address written in a purple scrawl.

“Will you come with us at least Cas?”

“Us?” Cas tilts his head in question.

“Yes, our friends that are helping me, please come meet them.”

“Will there be sandwiches?” Cas asks, sounding so much like a ten year old boy Sam almost laughs.

“If you want one, yes, just over there at the diner.” Sam points out the diner he’s walking to across the parking lot.

“This looks like an establishment that Dean would prefer. “ Cas observes as they walk closer to the diner.

“Yes, he loves diners like this, he always says ‘it’s our version of home-cooking’” Sam shares, thinking fondly of the zillions of diners he’s gone to with Dean over the years, suddenly missing him with a fierce, painful wave that almost makes him stumble.

Sam escorts Cas into the busy diner finding the table that Jody and Garth are already seated at, arguing good-naturedly about vampires over steaming cups of coffee. So far the people at the other tables don’t seem to have noticed the strange topic of conversation.

“Jody, Garth, I’d like you both to meet Castiel, he’s the friend I was telling you about.” Sam interrupts, gesturing at Cas.

Their eyes wide with surprise and no little awe, Jody and Garth both offer their hands for Cas to shake. At first Cas hesitates as always, but then he smiles the broken, not-all-there smile and shakes for much too long. Sam touches his hand to get him to stop and they both sit down.

“Did you guys order already?” Sam asks.

“No they haven’t, what would y’all like?” asks the tall waitress suddenly hovering over the edge of the table.

“I’ll have two eggs over easy, wheat toast and fruit salad. Oh and coffee. He’ll have a club sandwich and fruit salad and a glass of orange juice” Sam says pointing at Cas.

“Pancake special for me.” Garth adds.

“Lumberman’s for me, scrambled and rye, thanks.” Jody finishes.

“That’ll be up soon, I’ll bring the drinks right back.”

“Thanks.” Sam says.

Once she’s brought back the coffee and juice and cleared out of hearing, Sam leans forward and says, “So thanks to you helping me last night, I’ve only got one more blood left to get, and this one is a lot harder. It’s got to be from the King of Hell. Now I know that sounds bad, but Cas and I know the guy pretty well, and we’ve got a plan.”

“The King of Hell? As in a demon Sam?” Jody asks, sounding very worried.

“Yeah, a demon named Crowley, he used to just be the King of the Crossroads, but when Dean and I trapped Lucifer, he took over.”

“Trapped Lucifer?” Garth squeaks in surprise?

“Yeah, that’s a really long story, I promise I’ll tell you it some time, the whole thing if you really want to hear it. But for now, we’ve got to rescue two people from Crowley first before I get the blood from him.”

“Who are they?” Jody asks.

“One is important to me, and one is a Prophet of the Lord, I will keep them safe once we take them from Crowley.” Cas answers.

“You should know that the first one he mentioned is a demon, one that’s been on our side for a while now, although she wasn’t before, she took care of Cas when he was ill, when Dean and I couldn’t. We kind of owe her. The Prophet is a teenager named Kevin Tran that we met a few months ago that can read the Word of God. He’s the one that read the spell that got Dick Roman back to Purgatory, we might need him to help with this second Purgatory spell.”

“Why would Crowley be keeping them?” Garth asks.

“The Prophet would be kept to bargain with the angels, or perhaps to read other tablets that contain the Word. Meg would currently be in charge of Hell if Crowley were not there, so he is holding her for political reasons. They have always been on opposite sides.” Cas answers.

“I had no idea there was such a thing as demon politics.” Jody says.

“Yes, it is even worse than the American political system.” Cas answers with the slightest hint of a smile.

They all laugh at that, and at Cas’ slightly confused expression when he hears their laughter. Just then the waitress appears with the tray of all their food. It all gets sorted out and Cas’ eyes light up at the sight of the stacked sandwich and colorful fruit on the dishes placed before him. He touches the waitress’ wrist lightly, “Flo, I thank you very much.” Cas says sincerely.

Flo’s eyes glaze over as if she’s momentarily under a spell, she recovers, shaking her head, “You’re, uh, you’re welcome sir.” She smiles wanly and heads back to the kitchen.

“So Cas tells me that they’re in Spokane, not far from here, and tomorrow at noon would be the time to go in with the least number of demons to deal with.” Sam continues.

“Crowley will not be there.” Cas adds, digging into his fruit salad, and chewing loudly. It reminds Sam briefly and painfully of how Dean eats, reminding him of why he’s doing all this. So he can sit across grungy diner tables from his brother, watching the food get mashed up in his grinning white teeth. Sam misses him suddenly so much that his heart aches sharply.

“Well that makes it all easy then.” Garth jokes.

“You’re going to have to tell me how to take care of demons Sam.” Jody says.

Sam recovers, grins across the table at her, “No problem Jody, we’ll work on it.”

“Will Crowley still give you the blood if you take these people away from you?” Garth asks.

“Yeah, it’s a separate thing; he’s very pragmatic that way. Kind of like a businessman.” Sam answers.

“Cas will you help us? I know you won’t, or can’t fight, but can you be there in case Meg or Kevin are hurt?” Sam asks, hoping that he’s worded it so that Cas can agree.

“Yes Sam. I will do that. I will meet you there tomorrow at noon.” His fork clattering down to his plate, Cas disappears in a whoosh of feathers. Sam looks around the diner quickly, relieved to see that no one has noticed Cas’ quick exit.